How Miami arts organizations are putting artists of color in the forefront this season

ARE WE DOING IT ENOUGH?’

While Miami’s arts institutions and organizations have made strides in supporting BIPOC artists, leaders recognize that more can and should be done — especially given Miami’s housing crisis and soaring prices.

“There’s always more work to be done,” said Victoria Rogers, the vice president of the arts at the Knight Foundation. “You can’t rest on your laurels.”

In terms of supporting artists of color, Zietsman put it bluntly: “Are we doing it enough? No, I don’t think so.”

The rising cost of living is a major concern frequently noted. Though organizations like Oolite and the Knight Foundation invest millions of dollars into the careers of local artists, many struggle to afford living and working in Miami. Zietsman lamented the lack of paid work opportunities for performing artists.

“A lot of Miami talent leaves Miami because they feel [there are] more opportunities for them somewhere else,” Zietsman said. “And in many cases, they’re right.”

Black curators and artists noted another issue. Miami excels at featuring Latin American artists, but falls behind in supporting Black artists, both locally and internationally.

“I think Miami is leaps and bounds ahead of most cities, but everybody can stand to do a bit better,” Barnes said.

Black artists should be given the grace and space to learn from mistakes and imperfections to hone their craft, Barnes said. He credited organizations like Oolite for allowing emerging artists of color to get opportunities without needing an established career first.

“Black people deserve the opportunity to fail because we learn so much from failures. We don’t get that opportunity,” Barnes said. “You need to already be established or you need to already know what’s going on because if you fail, you may never get that opportunity.”

For decades, curator Rosie Gordon-Wallace has worked in Miami — and around the world — promoting artists of color with her organization, the Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator. She can say with confidence: Miami needs to boost its Black artists.

To her, Miami does not stand out as a leader in showing Black and brown artists in comparison to cities like New Orleans or Los Angeles. Miami certainly has the desire to emerge as a leader, but that’s a status it has not achieved, she said.

The city needs more physical spaces dedicated to showing and supporting Black artists, she said. As an organization, the Miami Museum of Contemporary Art of the African Diaspora regularly hosts and supports several events and exhibitions for Black art, despite not yet having a physical museum space of its own.

“Are there many spaces to show Black and brown artists? Is desire enough?” Gordon-Wallace said. “It’s not enough to have this desire. I genuinely don’t think we’re there yet.”

For the rest of the season, she plans to do what she always does: getting her artists the representation they deserve. She recently curated an exhibition at Green Space Miami that highlights the identity of the Caribbean diaspora, which is on view until Oct. 20.

Curator Chris Norwood agreed with Gordon-Wallace.

 “African American artists get lost in the landscape of the Miami art world, in my opinion,” he said.

Norwood is the founder of Hampton Art Lovers and curator at the Historic Ward Rooming House’s art gallery in Overtown, a space that features work by Black artists. In November, he will open “Charles White: Move on Up,” an exhibition on the African American artist in partnership with the University of Miami’s Lowe Art Museum.

Though Miami’s art world has acknowledged that Black art is profitable, the community is still deficient in spaces to display and consume Black art year round, Norwood said.

 More often than not, he said, the responsibility of promoting Black American art in Miami falls on Black Americans. Overtown is a prime example of a Miami neighborhood that is experiencing a “renaissance” of Black art, he said.

“We are doing it ourselves,” Norwood said. “We’re occupying that space with our own self determination.

” It’s up to everyone else to catch up.

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